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Fireball Spell
This article is about the unit ability called "Fireball Spell". For the Chaos spell of the same name, see Fireball. Fireball Spell is one of the many Unit Abilities available in Master of Magic. A unit with the Fireball Spell ability can cast a spell once in every combat. This does not consume any , Spells, or Spell Skill, but at the same time it also cannot be enhanced, and is only available once per battle per unit (as opposed to once per ). All Magicians possess the Fireball Spell ability, and they are the only units that have this ability. It cannot be added to any other unit artificially. Other units with the Caster ability may also be able to cast , but in those cases the normal rules for casting it apply instead. Description Magicians have the unique ability of being able to channel magic energy via their staves into a large flaming sphere, which is hurled at the target and will explode on impact. The fireball inflicts Area Damage and can inflict serious damage, especially to targets. Effect During each battle, it is possible to activate a unit's Fireball Spell ability exactly once. This is done by selecting that unit, clicking the "Spell" button in the combat menu, and selecting the unit's name. The game then prompts for a valid target - i.e. any enemy unit on the battlefield. When the ability is activated, the game essentially casts the spell at the designated target. Unless countered by effects such as or a Node's dispelling aura, a sphere of fire will fly down from the sky, impact with the target, and deal damage to each within the target unit immediately. The strength of this Fireball is exactly , and cannot be increased like the actual Fireball spell. As with all Area Damage attacks, this means that the game makes 5 rolls against each individual within the target unit, and each figure must separately make rolls to defend itself. "Unblocked" hits are translated into (no can be hit for more damage than it has ), and applied to the unit as a whole. Due to striking each independently, the Fireball spell is much stronger against than it is against . Despite being weak in strength, it has a good chance of killing a few lightly-armored . The low strength, however, means that the spell will do little if any damage to any decent , and will likely be less powerful than the Magicians' . Activating a unit's Fireball Spell ability costs it all of its remaining Movement Allowance for this turn. A unit that has already spent all of its Movement Points cannot use Fireball Spell until the next turn. Immunities Targets possessing Magic Immunity or will be completely unaffected by the Fireball, and will never suffer any damage from it. Targets with Fire Immunity will temporarily have their Defense score boosted to for the purpose of blocking this spell, and thus will likely suffer no damage from it either. Avoid using the Fireball Spell ability against any such targets. Similarly, the Defense bonus granted by , , and ; and even the Large Shield ability (Swordsmen) is significant compared to the Attack Strength of this Fireball, therefore units with these effects may also make poor targets. Fireball versus Normal attack comparison Most mid tier units have , and Magicians are a high end unit, requiring a investment in a Wizards' Guild. At this point, the opposing Wizards will most likely be fielding Halberdiers or better, unless they are playing races which only have access to weak units. Against a unit with (assuming basic Veteran Halberdier stats), the Fireball ability will do 1 damage to a roughly 44% of the time, or roughly 2.64 figures killed per Fireball Spell. This is about 25% better than a Magician unit doing an average of 2 damage to the same target with it's . At Regular and Veteran Experience Levels, the Ranged Attack damage more or less catches up, with an average damage of 2.563 (2 damage or less roughly 50% of the time, marginally worse than the Fireball Spell). At the level, the baseline Magician unit would kill 3 or more with the roughly 88% of the time, which is significantly better than the Fireball Spell. This is because while the normal attack benefits from and bonuses from experience levels, the Fireball Spell does not. The figures are obviously even more in favor of the Ranged Attack for High Men Magicians. As such, the Fireball Spell is mainly only useful with inexperienced Magicians against common by the time they can be recruited. However, it's also worth noting that unlike the Ranged Attack, Fireball Spell does not get weaker if the Magicians unit loses some of its . It is also an extra spell after exhausting their allotment of 4x Ranged Ammo. Units with Default Fireball Spell Each and every unit of Magicians in the game possesses the Fireball Spell ability. There are 5 such units, each belonging to a different Race: High Elf Magicians High Men Magicians Orc Magicians Beastmen Magicians Draconian Magicians Remember that these units also possess a strong , which will actually be more useful when targeting . Try to target the Fireball Spell at instead, and only use it on if no other units are on the battlefield and your Magicians have run out of ammunition for their ranged attack. Acquiring Fireball Spell No known spell or effect can add the Fireball Spell ability to a unit that does not already possess it. As a result, Magicians are the only units to have the Fireball Spell ability. Category:Abilities